‘FF7 Remake’ Steal Materia guide: Tips, stealable weapons, and best items

In Final Fantasy VII Remake, the Steal Materia lets you pilfer items from enemies mid-battle, and in at least one case, you can miss out on an absolutely essential item if you don’t. In Rebirth, you’ll get to Steal again with many of the same items returning.

With the ability, you can plunder all kinds of treasures like new weapons, armor, accessories, and more. Enemy Skills can be acquired in a similar fashion, but that requires a different skillset. Use this guide to learn how the Steal Materia functions and what items have enough power to make your purloining worth it.

How to get Steal Materia in FF7 Remake

Once you reach Chapter 8, “Budding Bodyguard,” the Shinra intern Chadley will assign you a new slew of Battle Intel Reports to complete. Finish Report #07 called“Magic Elements Pt. 2,” where you need to exploit weaknesses of 15 unique foes. (Use Assess on every enemy and cast whatever magic they’re weak to on them.) After completing the report, Chadley will begin selling Steal Materia in his shop.

Purchase, then equip the Materia to begin stealing items from foes.

How does Steal work in FF7 Remake?

Any character who has the Steal Materia equipped can use the Steal ability for one ATB gauge. Steal has a chance to take an item being held by an enemy. Steal is impacted by your Luck stat, thus your success rate can be increased by utilizing Luck-bolstering items like a Luck Up Materia, the Choco+Mog summon, and Cloud’s Nail Bat (earned by completing the Chapter 8 side mission “Kids on Patrol"). For the best chance at success, use Tifa to steal items. She has an innately high luck stat that can be bolstered into overpowered territory by equipping some of the aforementioned items

Before attempting a heist, you can check what a foe is carrying by using an Assess Materia, and the information provided on the left side of the screen will always list what’s available to steal.

Now that you’re prepared, here’s what you should focus on stealing.

7 must-steal in Final Fantasy 7 Remake

1. Bladed Staff — A weapon for Aerith. Enemies: Eligor (Chapter 11) [Note: This is the most important stealable item in the whole game!]
2. Magician's Bracelet — An Armor with 7 Physical Defense, 7 Magic Defense, and four Materia Slots. Enemies: Reno (Chapter 12).
3. Heavy-Duty Bracer — An Armor with 53 Physical Defense, 13 Magic Defense, and three Materia Slots. Enemies: Rude (Chapter 12).
4. Enchanted Ring — An accessory that increases the duration of beneficial effects cast by the user. Enemies: the Type-0 Behemoth (Chapter 14) during the side quest “Subterranean Menace.”
5. Timeworn Talisman — An accessory that increases Spirit by 10 percent. Enemies: Specimen H0512 (Chapter 16)
6. Champion Belt — An accessory that increases Max HP by 10 percent and Strength by 5 percent. Enemies: Grungy Bandit located in the Sector 6 Slums and the Shinra Combat Simulator mission “Vs. Soldier Trainees” (Chapter 16 and 17).
7. Iron Maiden — An Armor with 124 Physical Defense, 20 Magic Defense, and no Materia Slots. Enemies: a M.O.T.H Unit found in the Shinra Building (Chapter 17) and within the Shinra Combat Simulator mission “vs. 3-C SOLDIER” (Chapter 16 and 17).

In almost every case here, you’ll be able to acquire these items during your regular playthrough in other means, including in item shops toward the end of the game, but the Magician’s Bracelet, for instance, has more Materia slots than most other pieces of Armor in the game, so it’s worth having three of them.

17 other items to consider stealing in FF7 Remake

1. Molotov Cocktail — A consumable that does 90 Fire damage to all foes in range. Enemies: Crab Warden (Chapter 5).
2. AI Programming Core — An item that can be sold for 500 Gil. Enemies: the Airbuster (Chapter 7).
3. Mr. Cuddlesworth — An explosive item that produces AoE damage. Enemies: Hell House (Chapter 9).
4. Adrenaline — Rouses a character from the Stupor effect. Enemies: Sahagin and Byobapolis
5. Smelling Salts — Wakes somebody up from slumber. Enemies: Blugu
6. Spiderweb — Slows enemies in range. Enemies: Queen Grashtrike and Grashtrike/
7. Phoenix Down — Revives a fallen ally with some health. Enemies: Lesser Drake.
8. Celeris — Hastens ATB bar gain upon consumption. Enemies: Beck, Butch, Burke, and Bandit
9. Echo Mist — Consumable that cures silence. Enemies: Cutter and Sledgeworm.
10. Ether — Restores 20 MP when consumed. Enemies: Monodrive, Cerulean Drake, Hedgehog Pie, and Reno.
11. Antidote — Heals poison status effect. Enemies: Bloodhound, Wererat, Gorger, Ringmaw, Abzu Shoat, Mischievous Shoat
12. Potion — Heals some HP when consumed. Enemies: Guard Dog and Terpsicolt.
13. Turbo Ether — Fully restores MP when consumed. Enemies: 3-C SOLDIER Operator, Mark II Monodrive, Sweeper Prototype, Ghost, Abzu, and Ghoul.
14. Orb of Gravity — When activated, it decreases the HP of nearby foes by 25 percent. Enemies: Elite Helitrooper, Sentry Launcher, Slug-Ray, and Shock-Ray.
15. Sedative — Quells fury when consumed. Enemies: Armored Shock Trooper, Scissorclaw, Varghidpolis
16. Hi-Potion — Restores moderate HP when consumed. Enemies: Elite Security Officer, Elite Shock Trooper, and Cripshay.
17. Grenade — A throwable explosive that can do damage to a group. Enemies: Security Officer, Elite Grenadier, Elite Riot Trooper, and Shock Trooper.

Update, March 5: This story has been updated with a mention of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.